A/N: So, I'm really sorry this is so late, but I got flagged.

Yeah. I actually got flagged and was restricted from posting for like a week. And it was for a story that's been up for like, 2 years, and had like 42 reviews, and I didn't even get a warning, and it was because my summary wasn't G-rated. I'm over it now, but not gonna lie, I was sort of miffed, because it was my attempt at BenedictCumberbatch!Master, and I liked it, even it was wasn't perfect, and again, it had quite a few reviews for a fic with only one chapter, and I got pretty consistent story alert/favorite emails about it, and so yeah. I guess I just would have appreciated a warning.

*crosses fingers and hopes that Admin doesn't read this and decide to throw me off the site forever because my God, what did I live for before I wrote fan fiction?*

But yes, that threw off my writing a bit. But it was okay because I couldn't post anyway. And now I'm hiding upstairs because there are people in my house other than my parents and if I go from my room I'll have to talk to them. So I decided I would finish my chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own XMFC, or any of the actors affiliated, and I certainly don't own high school.

"Charles." Erik sat down at their lunch table, staring at the brunette next to him.

"Er, yes?" Charles stopped nibbling on his croissant and looked up from his textbook.

"You turned me into a nerd." Charles blinked at him. Erik pulled his latest test paper out of his bag and passed it over. Charles grinned.

"Erik, that's fantastic!"

"My mother thinks you walk on water." Charles raised his eyebrows.

"You do realize that this is in math? I don't tutor you in math anymore, Erik." Charles smiled slightly as he took another small bite of sandwich.

"Huh." Erik began unwrapping his lunch. "Attend any wild parties this weekend?"

"Me, my five year old sister, and a dozen stuffed animals had this tea party, and we almost got the police called on us. It was intense." Charles rolled his eyes. Erik's lips twitched. "And yourself?"

"Not much." Charles closed his textbook and put his chin in his hands. "I um, sat in a park and watched guys walk by."

"…really?" Charles put a hand over his mouth. It didn't muffle the sound of his giggles. Erik watched as Charles slowly turned pink.

"It isn't that amusing."

"I'm sorry Erik." Charles giggled. "But most people would buy a magazine, or I don't know, forge some ID and get into a gay bar, but you choose to sit in a park for…how long were you there?"

"…a few hours." Charles dissolved into more laughter.

"What's so funny?" Janos sat down.

"Our lack of a life." Erik grumbled. Janos shook his head.

"Pathetic. You need to join a club." Janos opened his milk. "So those of us with lives don't have to listen to you moan."

"I'm sorry Janos, when was the last time the football team won a game?" Erik retorted.

"This weekend." Janos smirked. "We annihilated English High. 26-6." He took a bite of something Erik assumed was a mutated chicken, somehow making the action smug. "So yeah, your argument is now invalid."

"Congratulations." Charles said quietly. "How many more games do you need to win this season?"

"Dude…" Janos laughed. "You have no idea how sports work do you?" Charles shrugged. "We're not making States this year, even if every other game in the season goes like that. It's too late."

"It's never too late." Azazel sat down. "Never."

"He's lying." Janos said. "It's really too late."

"Not if we blow up Monument High's field and kill off the starting lineup for Jefferson." Azazel said stubbornly.

"You've thought this out way too much." Erik muttered.

"No, it's a solid plan." Azazel dragged out a notebook. "See, Monument High sucks just as much as we do, except they have a proper field to practice on, instead of a crappy soccer field. If we take that from them, they will fall. And Jefferson, which is leading, is actually good - "

"They shut us out when we played them." Janos interjected.

"So we have to take them completely out of the running." Azazel ignored Janos. "Then, as long as we keep playing like we did last game, we can rise up to the State championships, at which point we're so high on momentum we destroy the competition and become the champions we were born to be."

"He stole half of that from Coach's last pep talk." Janos added. "And even Coach knows last game was a fluke."

"It was not." Azazel glared at Janos.

"The only people who don't think it was a fluke are the freshmen." Janos rolled his eyes. "I can't even count the number of little brats who've run up to me during breaks to ask if it's too late in the season to join the team."

"You could use them as bait." Erik suggested. "To lure out all those other teams you need to murder."

"Erik." Charles put down his lunch. "You can't just kill off innocent freshmen."

"Technically, it would be the team killing them." Janos looked a bit uncomfortable. "Coach would probably be in the bus humming and pretending not to see."

"Yeah." Azazel plucked one of Janos's fries off the tray. Janos failed at batting his hand away. Both of them managed to look outstandingly awkward.

"What's your problem?" Erik frowned at the both of them.

"Um…" Janos shifted.

"Coach doesn't want you on the team anymore." Azazel said flatly. "Since you're on the wrong team."

"For the record, we don't share that opinion at all." Janos said quickly. Azazel didn't say anything.

"Well, thank God." Erik took another bite of sandwich, ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach. "I never wanted to be on the football team anyway."

"You want to hang out after school?" Charles asked. Erik found it strangely comforting that this time it was Charles standing next to his locker asking.

"Sure." Erik glared at his locker and yanked the lock once again. "As soon as I get this open."

"Should I ask Azazel or Janos to come help you?"

"Laugh at my pain. Fine." Erik rolled his eyes. "You cruel, cruel, little being."

"Did you just mock my height?" Erik began to laugh. Charles sniffed. "There are several thousands of short people who conquered the world."

"I wouldn't advise comparing yourself to Napoleon." Erik grinned.

"What are we doing?" Janos popped up on Erik's other side.

"Mocking Charles's height."

"Mocking Erik's inability to open his locker."

"Aww. Would you like some help, little non athletic one?" Erik eyed Janos. "Or not. Let's focus on height."

"You two are just…" Charles went pale as Erik opened his locker.

"What the hell?" Erik blinked at the paper chain that had just fallen onto his hands. It looked like something a kindergartner would make. Except that there was ketchup splattered on it.

"I don't get it." Janos cocked his head.

Erik was wondering whether all the ketchup had gotten on his textbooks when Janos reached down and picked a note off the floor, also ketchup spattered.

"I think this was with it…" Erik took the note.

Faggots and their friends don't belong in school

"Oh. I guess the ketchup is supposed to be blood, then." Erik said, as lightheartedly as he could. Janos's expressions went almost immediately from somewhat bewildered to nauseous. Erik tried to ignore the funny sinking feeling in his stomach that was starting up again.

"Sorry." Charles shifted. "I guess I should have warned you about that."

"Warned?" Erik shoved the note and the paper chain into his backpack.

"Yeah. I get that sort of thing all the time." Charles smiled in a sickly way. "Don't worry about it. No one ever follows through with the really bad threats."

"Ah." Erik yanked out his necessary textbook and slammed the locker door shut.

"Dude." Janos swallowed. "At least it's not that bad. Right?"

"Course not." Erik slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Dumbasses and their ketchup packets don't scare me."

"Hey, Janos!" Azazel walked past them, snagging Janos's elbow. "Football practice. Come on."

"Coming." Janos took a step away. "I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"You got it."

"Bye."

Erik watched Azazel drag Janos down the hallway. Charles began heading for the door at a trot. Erik hurried to keep up with him.

"So, how often does that happen to you?"

"What?" Charles got into his car.

"Threatening things being put in your locker."

"Oh, not that often. I mean, I get them every now and then, but…" Charles shrugged. "Honestly, I think it's what happens when people get bored. After all, did you see the quality of that paper chain? Shoddy at best."

"Heh." Erik stared out the window.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'd forgotten what your first locker comment is like." Charles sighed.

"How do you deal with it?" Erik glanced at Charles. "I think that my method of punching things might not work too well here."

"I focus on the fact that I'm leaving in a few months. Also, books. And um, Raven." Charles smiled faintly. "It's a bit selfish, but I do like having someone around who will shriek with joy to see me regardless of my sexuality."

"Oh." Erik switched his gaze back to the window. "It's just weird. I was ready to get shoved around, not to get weird little notes."

"Well…" Charles hesitated. "Erik, you're like six feet tall, and you took down the biggest brute at Lincoln. People aren't stupid enough to try anything physical with you. At least, I hope to God no one is."

"Huh." Erik sighed.

"Ah, Erik?" Charles looked a bit squeamish, as if something had just occurred to him. "Is your phone number listed?"

"Probably?" That really wasn't something Erik thought about much. It wasn't like anyone ever called the landline. "Why?"

"You might start getting calls." Charles swallowed.

"Calls?"

"Um, yes. Same people who put notes in lockers. I um, just thought I should give you a warning, since your phone is in your kitchen and your mother seems to generally be closer to it than you, and I'm guessing that you don't want her picking that up." Charles coughed. "If you need instructions for who to call to get a new number, I can send them to you."

"Yeah, thanks." Except that his Mom would need to know why they were changing the phones. And her room was right next to the phone, there was no way he was going to be able to guard it.

Shit.

"Erik?"

"Shit." Erik twitched. "I'm going to have to give her some sort of excuse…"

Double shit. He hated lying to his mom and more importantly, he sucked at it. Triple shit.

"Erik?" Charles asked cautiously.

"How did you um, come out to your mom?" Erik asked. Charles shrugged.

"Ah, rather badly. I told her during dinner and didn't make eye contact with her through the whole thing, and she didn't really react to it." Charles glanced at him. "Are you going to…"

"I can't keep her from answering the phone at all times." And not talking to her about anything that went on at school or anything that was actually going on with him felt like lying but sneakier. "Can you just drop me off by a bus stop? I um, want to think this through."

"Sure." Charles hesitated. "Call me afterward and tell me how it went."

"Will do."

"Damn."

"What happened? Did another of the slacker students give you the cougar look?" Jean Grey couldn't think of many other reasons for her friend stalking into the nurse's office, swearing, and immediately start rooting around for aspirin.

"First of all, I am not old enough to be classified as a cougar." Ororo held up a finger. "Not nearly old enough. And no. I think the jackass population has suffered since they lost their ringleader."

"Oh good." Jean pulled a bottle of aspirin from her pocket and tossed it to Ororo. Ororo caught it and made a grateful noise. "So, what happened?"

"Thanks." Ororo sighed and shook her head. "It's Charles."

"Oh." Jean winced and sat down at her desk. "You didn't get a chance to talk to him?"

"No." Ororo leaned against the desk and dry swallowed a few pills. "He bolted out of my classroom today. At least Lensherr isn't failing anymore. Not that I don't have a few new concerns on that account."

"It's ridiculous that Shaw blocks us whenever we try to set up a pflag chapter here." Jean scowled. "Next time he comes to me for aspirin, I'm selecting a drug at random and mixing it with alcohol."

"Jean." Ororo had to laugh. "That hardly solves our problem." She quickly sobered. "You should have seen that bruise, and the way he flinched when I noticed. I don't think a member of the track team could have gotten out of the room faster than he did."

"You could ask…"

"I'm going to see if he can spare some time to go investigate. We're going out tonight, I can ask him then." Jean smiled slightly.

"I hate to just go running to the males, but…" Jean shook her head. "Seeing as our wonderful boss hasn't given us a proper contact at CPS, and I'd rather talk to someone we know, I guess it's the best option."

"In absence of such a trustworthy person as the school should be providing us with, the police will do." Ororo smiled grimly.

Erik's leg was shaking and he couldn't get it to stop. He was also unfortunately sure that he was sweating all over his textbook and leaving smudges on his homework. Dammit.

"Erik?" He jumped as his mother touched his shoulder. "You barely touched your dinner."

"Not really hungry." He stared at her hands as she picked up the plate. What if she never spoke to him again?

"I don't want you waking up at four in the morning and rummaging through the fridge for food." Erik's mom said severely. It occurred to Erik that his Mom had probably yelled at him maybe five times in his whole life, and usually for doing things like running into the street. He wondered if this qualified on that level of bad.

"I won't."

"Good." His mother frowned and pressed her hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling sick?"

"No, I'm not sick. I think." Erik swallowed.

"If you are, go to bed. I know you've gotten that newfound dedicated to schoolwork, and believe me, I support it 100 percent, but I don't want you making yourself sick." She tutted. "I wish you slept more."

"I've just had a lot of stuff on my mind." Erik mumbled. There was no way he could go through with this. No way in hell.

"Hmm." She padded out into the kitchen, and soon Erik heard the sound of water running, then the clink of dishware.

"You want help with the dishes?" He called into the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you." Erik walked in and accepted the towel he was handed. "You dry."

"Yes Mama." Erik began wiping dishes.

"Dear, is there anything you want to talk about?" His mother asked. Erik could hear the worry in her voice.

"No. Actually, yes." Erik took a deep breath.

Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up.

"Do you remember Charles?"

"Yes, of course. Is he okay?"

"Yeah. This um, isn't actually about him, it's more about me, but he was sort of involved." Erik made slightly gulping noise in his throat, and tried to make proper eye contact. "I'm gay. And it really isn't something I can change or that I chose, believe me, so disinheriting me would be really unfair."

"Erik." He realized that his mother looked, if anything, a bit amused. "Dear, idiot, boy. Of course I'm not disinheriting you, or kicking you out of your home. You are my son, and the fact that I love you will not be impacted by who you date."

"You're not mad?" Muscles Erik hadn't even known he was clenching were loosening up.

"Why on earth would I be? I'm just proud that you had the courage to finally tell me." She stepped forward and hugged him. Erik hugged back tighter than he could remember hugging anyone in ages, blinking rapidly.

"Wait, finally?" Erik tried to get the choked up sound of his throat.

"Dear, I am your mother. It's my job to understand you before you understand yourself." Erik let go of her, still absolutely not sniffling at all. His mother handed him a tissue anyway.

"Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." She smiled at him. "Really Erik, I thought you were going to tell me you had bubonic plague or that someone had died."

"No. Just um, me." Erik flushed. "That guy I got into a fight with was um, also correlated with being gay."

"Hmpf." His mother frowned. "He was harassing Charles, correct - who, I assume, is also gay?"

"Yeah. I got um, really mad about it. He was being unbelievable."

His mother picked up the plate she had been washing and resumed soaping it. "I applaud you for making a stand Erik. Are you and Charles dating now?"

"No." Erik muttered. "And thanks."

"Hmm. Well, thank him for me for helping you in whatever ways he has." Erik blinked, suddenly remembering.

"He wanted me to call him, just in case…" Erik's mother smiled at him.

"Go."

Charles was reading a story to Raven when his cellphone buzzed.

"Raven? Sweetheart, you're going to have to give me a second."

"Mmhmm." She was half asleep anyway. Charles hurried into her bathroom and shut the door, opening his phone.

"Erik?"

"I have the best mother in the universe." Charles laughed.

"It went well then?"

"I think that if we owned a car, she would be sticking a rainbow bumper sticker on it." Charles couldn't stop smiling.

"Erik, that's fantastic."

"But I also have to finish drying the dishes. See you in school tomorrow?"

"Absolutely." Charles listened to the dial tone for a few moments, just letting the feeling of relief spread through him. He loved happy endings. Or middles, as it were.

A/N: I will be a fan of Edie Lensherr forever. In my mind, she is the embodiment of all that is good. I mean, in the movie she stayed calm and tried to reassure her kid while a gun was being pointed at her head, she could certainly handle Erik being in love with Charles. I actually have 5000 modernday!aus in my head where she shoves them at each other and declares that Erik has to get married now because she finally found him his perfect husband, and demands that they give her grandchildren.

Also, review? Please?